Tuesday 22 October 2013

22nd October 2013

I arrived last night in the town Nelson, British Columbia around 400 miles inland from Vancouver after leaving Seattle on Thursday, heading north to Canada once more via Greyhound for three action packed days in Vancouver. As per usual I arrived at night, but for the first time in all my travels I'd managed to arrange to do a bit of couch surfing – for the uninitiated this is a website that lets you find people in different locations around the world who have a spare bed or sofa they are willing to have guests come and stay on. In my case Rey Torres who replied to my application as my focus on co-operatives peaked his interest being an employee of the biggest Credit Union (co-operative bank) in Canada.


On arrival I was warmly welcomed by Rey along with his friend Miguel and served my first home cooked meal of this trip; a rather delicious marinated pork chop and Chinese vegetables. After dinner we sat down and began to get to know one another and much to our shared delight we discovered a we were both burners! Granted Rey is a rather more seasoned burner than I having attended the last nine in a row but whether its one or nine it all still counts.


On Friday I got up and made a trip to downtown Vancouver where I found more helpful people than a worldwide convention of Samaritans. Whether it was to give directions, serve me a coffee, or sort out my laundry every single person I met here was warm, generous and only to happy to go the extra mile. The city reflects this with clean streets and lots of smiling faces despite the fog bound conditions that endured for pretty much my entire stay. Later I met with Roy Symonds and his wife Roy's an old friend who I haven't seen since we left school which makes it a cool eighteen years who's been living out here for the last four or five. He like most round these parts loves the outdoor life and took me for a hike up the Grouse Grind – a very steep climb up a mountainside that takes you up to the top of Grouse ski resort immediately north of the city. It climbs to around 3,500 ft in no time at all with most of the trail consisting of hefty stone steps sometimes as much as three foot high a time. Even before we'd started the climb we'd come high enough to get above the clouds, although no views were forthcoming until we reached the summit after 90 minutes of panting (on my part at any rate) and clambering thanks to the pine trees covering the steeply sloping face of the mountain. When we did make to the top the views across the cloud covered city to Vancouver island in the west and south towards the Rockies and in particular the snowy peak of Mount Baker back in Washington state were sensational. Appreciation all aided in no small part by the conveniently located lodge with bar serving up some fine BC beer. In the night I went to a burner party with Rey and met with my buddy Adrian who lives and works in Vancouver. He and I have now managed to meet three times on three separate continents (South Africa, Peru and now Canada) in the last year and it looks as though we'll meet again in India come next February!


Saturday morning marked the start of a conference on the New Economy. For those not in the know it can best be described as an ecosystem of institutions and business models that aim to democratise and empower all members of society, ensuring natural and human resources are deployed and consumed equitably and sustainably. If that still sounds a little nebulous, lets just say its there are lots of co-operatives engaged in this area and its therefore a great place to link up and learn about some really cool stuff for the book I'm currently researching / writing. The conference itself was located on Glanville island sitting under the main bridge that takes you downtown from southern Vancouver. Until its recent conversion the the island was the location for most of the fishing industry's processing plants (Much like Seattle this is a watery city and boats of all sorts be it container ships or pleasure cruisers line the bays and inlets around the city). Nowadays the old industrial buildings on the island are filled with farmers markets, hotels, restaurants and artisanal shops of all descriptions. Some remnants of its industrial part do remain intact with a working concrete plant tucked to one side of the island. I won't go into the details of the conference suffice it to say I learnt about a heck of a lot of cool and innovative stuff going on in Vancouver co-operatives and made a half dozen really good contacts (if you're really interested I've got an article on the conference I'll be putting up on a new website in the not too distant).


Saturday night Rey took me along to see a friend of his Jazz orchestra at SFU in Gastown, the oldest part of Vancouver. To my delight the band turned out to be comprised of some the best jazz musicians in Canada and their performance (a tribute to Kenny Wheeler – Canadian trumpet and composing jazz legend who lives in London) included a world premiere of a new Kenny Wheeler piece. The music as it has the potential to do transported me to a different world with its complex harmonics and pwerful horn section. And the flugel horn player who took up the lead more often than not played with a tone and control that was something you have to see and hear to believe.



Sunday was my last day in Vancouver and the conference. Rey who'd been so kind right through my trip and in three days become a good friend threw a little dinner party in the evening where he served up Lamb shanks, red wine and good company. And that was the end of my three action packed days in home of the Canucks. Not sure when I'll be back but I look forward to spending more time here, its got an easy charm all of its own and I can understand why everyone seems so damn happy to be there.

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